Cocoa's Puppies - 5 Weeks

Though the Christmas season is past, you can still hear some soft jingle bells around here.  It is the puppies playing with their new stuffed animal with a jingle bell inside.  As they are becoming increasingly playful, we added stuffed animals and a ball to their whelping area.
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They continue to grow, and they are completely off the bottle.  We feed them four times a day.  They are eating Life's Abundance Small & Medium breed puppy chow softened in goat milk.  They eagerly lap the goat milk, and then chew a few bits of food before sacking out after the hard work of downing a meal (see below).  We also have started offering a bowl of water at all times.

Charlotte (left), Sammy (bottom), & Flower (right) taking a nap. They don't always choose to sleep on their soft towel.

Their teeth have started to come in, so it's chew time!  We plan to introduce them to Life's Abundance buffalo bully sticks in the coming week to satisfy their urge to chew.

And, of course, the puppies continue to be socialized with life in busy household.  They are constantly hearing the noises of the house - the washer, the baby crying, the radio, the blender, people talking, and on & on.  They are experiencing the hands of little children that don't always know exactly how to hold puppy.  As I've watched my chidlren interact with puppies over the years, I've decided there is a balance when allowing young children to play with puppies.  On one hand, the child needs to learn to be gentle, and, on the other hand, the puppy needs to learn how to tolerate hands that don't always know the best way to hold them.  We have to be constantly monitoring our children as they handle the puppies.  As I think back, when we had our first litter of puppies here at Russell Homestead in 2014, AJ was 4 years old.  At age 4, we could not trust him to be alone with the puppies.  Now, at age 6, he has earned our trust to play with them independently - a good experience for him and the puppies while his younger siblings are napping.  

AJ & Flower

I'll finish up this week with a few snapshots...

My favorite photo from the week - all 3 still and in 1 place! So cute!

This photo shows how I got the one above - they were all sleeping. I got my camera ready, said "puppies," and quickly snapped a photo before they scampered off!

Though the picture is a bit fuzzy, I just had to share a PROUD Sammy who found the "big" dogs' beds and made himself at home!

Sammy checking out the other dog bed

Sammy playing with a stuffed animal

Charlotte & Sammy playing

Sammy & Flower sleeping on Charlotte

I had to chuckle at the last photo because it reminded me of the photo I took when they were newborns and Sammy & Flower were sleeping on Charlotte.

Thanks for stopping by!